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The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only a strong GOTY candidate, it’s also a huge financial hit. Studio the development team and publisher their publishing partner disclosed that this title exceeded five million copies sold, and that’s in spite of its status as a day-one release on Xbox Game Pass.

The game's performance was a shock for the team. I firmly believed that we would have a good game that would meet some average commercial success,” a key executive commented.

A technical director noted the game's review aggregate, which currently sits at 93, came as “maybe the biggest shock to the team versus “our initial expectations and what the reality proved to be. Because when it dropped everybody in the studio was screaming and jumping. It felt absolutely wild.”

The positive reception has led to Sandfall developing a free update for the game including novel settings, enemies, along with challenging bosses, as announced would be out within the “upcoming month[s]”.

Nevertheless, while the game is growing, don’t expect the studio to grow. “We have an excellent group guided by a visionary director who has a great vision for the project and also for new ideas. We intend to preserve the human scale that worked for this game then develop large projects one by one,” they noted.

The studio's scale drummed up a storm of discussion when the game came out. Some developers, including renowned designers, viewed this studio as a perfect example for creative teams. While Sandfall was and is indeed a small team compared to its AAA counterparts, one glance at the title's staff list indicates dozens of people worked on it; Sandfall hired a team in Korea handling movement and effects, for example.

“We plan to recruit slightly more certainly should there be an increase in development down the line,” they stated. “Yet I picture more of a workshop with a small number of exceptionally gifted creators that create a work of art together.” They emphasized that their core belief as developers “focuses on preserving the strengths that made this achievement possible originally.”

While it may be premature for the studio to reveal exact details about future projects — rest assured, efforts were made — the team does know what’s at its core. “The turn-based aspect, forms the foundation of this project,” the lead programmer remarked. “The timing isn't right to announce our next interests, but it's important also to remain faithful to our studio's essence through compelling worlds and the interesting gameplay that inspires the team.”

The developer added that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 began with the creative director pursuing his ideal project. It is hoped that philosophy we will be able to do as well for future productions.”